1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a structure of coupling portions of exterior parts, and more particularly to a structure of coupling portions of a headlight and an edge of a fender provided around the headlight.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a headlight of an automobile has an ear-like portion at the periphery of the headlight. The ear-like portion is mounted to a fender edge with a screw, and hence, the headlight is fixed to a front portion of a vehicle body. With such a headlight, if the headlight collides with an obstacle, the impact force may break the ear-like portion, and the headlight may be displaced toward the inside of the vehicle body (mainly downward), so as to reduce the impact force against the obstacle.
When the headlight is mounted to the fender, a gap is provided between the periphery of the headlight and the fender edge. If the gap is too large and is noticeable, the appearance of the vehicle may be degraded.
To prevent this, a mounting structure of a headlight is known in which a peripheral surface portion of the headlight vertically overlaps a fender edge at the boundary of the headlight and the fender, so that a gap between the peripherally surface portion of the headlight and the fender edge is less noticeable. However, if the overlap amount is not sufficient, a gap between the peripheral surface of the headlight and the fender edge may still be visible from the outside. Thus, the appearance of the vehicle is not satisfactory.
Therefore, a mounting structure of a headlight has been suggested in which a peripheral surface of the headlight vertically overlaps a fender edge, and a gap between the peripheral surface of the headlight and the fender edge is decreased (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-75337).
However, with the above structure, if the headlight collides with an obstacle and is displaced toward the inside of a vehicle body, the overlap portion of the peripheral surface of the headlight may become hooked onto the fender edge. As such, the displacement of the headlight toward the inside of the vehicle body may be prevented, and it may be difficult to sufficiently reduce the impact force against the obstacle.
Also, because the gap between the peripheral surface of the headlight and the fender edge is decreased, the peripheral surface of the headlight may rub on the fender edge when the headlight is displaced toward the inside of the vehicle body, resulting in the coating of the fender edge (e.g., paint, clear coat, etc) possibly being removed, resulting in the rusting of the fender edge.